Tuesday, May 7, 2013

April 26th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 26thGame’s
Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 4 –
Miami Marlins 2

Winning Pitcher:
Feldman (1-3) Losing Pitcher: LeBlanc (0-4)

Save by Gregg (2)

Player of the Game:
Anthony Rizzo

The Chicago Cubs took two games in as many days by defeating
the Marlins in a low scoring affair. The Cubbies won this game by getting solid
pitching from starter Scott Feldman and by the at-bat of first baseman Anthony
Rizzo. Feldman went 6.2 innings, gave up just two earned runs on 7 hits and 2
walks, which gave him his first win as a Cub and his first quality start of the
season. Although, Feldman put together his best outing of the year in the game,
he was out played by Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo went 3 for 4 with two run homers in
the game and was responsible for all the runs the Cubbies scored in the game,
therefore he earned player of the game.

Impressive: Anthony Rizzo’s performance was the most
impressive thing in the game because he did most of his damage against a
left-handed pitcher. Rizzo tends to have a difficult time against lefties,
however in this game he hit two monster homers off Wade LeBlanc and showed that
he can take both right and left-handed pitchers yard. Not only was Rizzo’s game
impressive because of his two homeruns, but he also got another hit in the game
and then stole a base. Rizzo has shown early on this season that he can pretty
much do it all and is a player that the Cubbies could build around.

Surprising: Scott Feldman’s outing caught me off guard and
therefore was the thing that surprised me the most in the game. I knew coming
in to the game that this is probably Feldman’s best chance to get a victory
because the Marlins don’t have that deep of a lineup, however Feldman pitched
better than I thought he would in the game. Feldman only gave up two walks in
the game and so far this season that has been his biggest problem on the year,
but today it looked like he had better control of his pitches which propelled
him to his victory over the Marlins. Feldman did gave up two earned runs, one
of the runs coming off a solo homer from Joe Mahoney, but Feldman still pitched
an effective game and showed he can be a reliable starter for the Cubbies.

Concerning: There isn’t a lot to be concerned about for the
Cubs after this game, but if I had to be a stickler about something, I would be
concerned about how poorly they hit with runners in scoring position. The
Cubbies went 1 for 7 when they had base runners in scoring positions and that
hit was one of Rizzo’s homeruns in the game.